A/N ~

It has been years since I've written fanfiction, and I am nervous yet so very excited to return to it. Honestly, this is more of just a personal, fun. journey of a story and something to help exercise my creative muscles while I strive through the writing of my own novel. I'm participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge this year for November and have been having such a huge block.

That's partially why I decided to write this story. I'm hoping having some fun, easy writing that doesn't feel too forced and simply done for the pleasure of creating will help my creativity to flow and will even get me more excited for my own novel again. Plus, I just finished re-watching Freaks and Geeks and I adore it and the characters so much. I just wish there was more. I want to see or imagine a future for these characters and tie together the loose ends. So that is. the other reason I am writing this. I hope I will have even just a small handful of readers to take this journey with me.

So thank you all, to whoever might read this, for your time. I hope I can bring some relief to you as well with this imagining of what might happen with the characters of this beloved show.

*Disclaimer* I am not incredibly well-versed in the norms of 80s, so please forgive me when I inevitably mess some things up. 😅

Lindsay

Following The Grateful Dead on tour could either be the stupidest decision of her life or the greatest one. Either way, Lindsay thought both options seemed kind of sad. Plus, depending on who she asked, it was either a new high or a new low. No matter which one, she still thought it was much better than that lame academic summit would have been. She was tired of just being and doing things she didn't want just to keep the peace or force "normalcy."

Unfortunately, none of this kept her from the undesirable fate of being made to have one-on-one twice weekly private meetings with the school guidance counselor, Mr. Rosso, all senior year long. Still, the experiences she had in that tiny, cramped van and watching all those Grateful Dead concerts with Kim, Laurie, and Laurie's boyfriend (who, honestly, she could never seem to remember the name of) were memories she wouldn't trade for the world.

She had never felt freer or more unbound. She spent so much time laughing, singing, dancing, reading, writing, and just thinking that she felt refreshed down to her core. Like she was revived and ready to figure out who she was. She'd never expected to become a "deadhead," and while she didn't plan on touting this as her identity any time soon, she would also always hold that album near and dear to her heart.

After the very last show they'd be watching on The Grateful Dead's tour, she was settled in the van for a very long few days of driving with the others. Laurie was in the front with her boyfriend, and her and Kim were hanging out in the back, laughing at some stupid joke then laughing some more when soda shot from Kim's nose.

"Oh my god, shut up, that hurt!" Kim coughed and heaved even through her laughter and she reached over to roughly shove Lindsay back against the couch. Lindsay shrieked and fell backwards, her back hitting the cushions, still giggling like it would be the last time she ever would. She was still laughing when Kim had wiped off her face and lunged towards her.

Lindsay shrieked as Kim grabbed her arms and pushed them against the cushions. She thrashed about and wrestled her back until they were a wheezing, panting mess on the couch. Kim sat up and stared at her with a wide smirk, and Lindsay's brown eyes glinted. In a mere second, Kim's lips were crushed against hers.

That was another thing that happened on this trip.

One night after a concert, they were all camped out on some fairground, circled around a campfire with another group of deadheads around their age, and one of the girls was talking about..."experimenting."

"Yeah," she had said, in that same slow yet enthusiastic drawl Lindsay had grown accustomed to from Laurie, "It's just so totally liberating to like, experiment sexually, especially as girls, and just have fun. Figure out what you like and don't like."

Lindsay stared at her with wide, awe-filled eyes. To be fair, she had also had a few beers. She felt a mixture of horror and curiosity rising in her gut, twining and fighting each other like twin dragons. She could feel Kim's intense gaze locked on her face, and she felt her cheeks grow hot. She turned slowly to look at her and laughed nervously. Kim laughed too and stuck her tongue out at her.

"Oh, come on, Linds, don't be such a damn prude," she chided playfully.

The girl who had been talking giggled and covered her smile with a hand before saying, "Oh my gosh, you two should like, totally kiss right now! I totally dare you!"

Kim shrugged and looked at Lindsay with a sideways smirk that loosed butterflies in her stomach. She had never felt that from another girl before, but the more she thought on it, the more she justified the idea in her head. She thought back to what was truly the highest high of her life so far: her politically impassioned, mini-speech at the assembly for the Vice President of the United States.

Standing there, giving her question, making her statement, she realized she had never felt more excited, empowered, or thrilled. And in that moment at the campfire, with everyone's curious and amused gazes fixed on her, she wondered if this might feel the same. She gave Kim a slow, bashful smile and leaned in.

Kissing Kim was so much different from kissing a guy, but not in a bad way necessarily. Her lips were softer, more sure. Then again, this was Kim, so she probably wasn't the same as kissing just any random girl. Her hands came up to cup Lindsay's cheeks, and her skin warmed at the contact. As soon as their lips touched, and Kim's mouth moved against her own with firm confidence, the whole world seemed to buzz.

Her lips were so soft and warm, and there was a lingering taste of strawberry chapstick mixed with the beer. She pulled away from Lindsay far too soon, and the whole crowd around the campfire cheered and clapped. But their eyes stayed locked together, and Lindsay laughed bashfully. Her cheeks were rosy in the fire's heat and under the focus of Kim's stare.

There was something swirling in Kim's eyes that made Lindsay's whole stomach feel like lead, but in a good way. She gulped as Kim brushed a thumb over her bottom lip and smirked.

"Okay, Lindsay," she teased, stretching out her name on her tongue like it was an olympic gymnast. "I didn't expect you to actually be good at that." Lindsay watched, transfixed, as Kim gently bit down on her own bottom lip, and became fascinated by the way it flipped back down when she released it. Her pulse quickened and her breath caught in her throat.

"Get a room!" Someone shouted, followed by whistles and hoots.

Kim shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "Okay," she said loudly. And before Lindsay could register what was happening, Kim had stood from her lawn chair and hauled Lindsay to her feet. She dragged her into the van and slammed the door shut. They tumbled down together in a breathless whirlwind of giggles, flopping onto the couch. Lindsay felt like her nerves were trembling.

Kim helped her out of her green army jacket and took off her own denim bomber. Lindsay lay on her back on the sofa, and Kim stared down at her with a wide grin, eyes glinting like she was getting ready to devour her.

Then, Kim was on her, pressing her lips to Lindsay's with a fervor she'd never experienced.

Their lips moved together in perfect harmony, and every little kiss and nibble sent flames through Lindsay's veins. Warmth spread throughout her, from her cheeks all the way down to her toes. She felt like she could make out with Kim for hours.

They giggled and laughed in between kisses, breathlessly needy for more. "God, I'm so glad we tried this," Kim muttered. She pressed a kiss to the corner of Lindsay's mouth. "Since me and Daniel are on a break," another kiss to her jaw, "and I haven't gotten any in like, a week," a gentle warm kiss against the pulse in her throat, "I have been like, so. frustrated." She sat up and rolled her eyes with a groan. Lindsay lay there beneath her, while Kim straddled her hips, and panted. Her face was flushed and her eyes were wide as she gazed up at her.

Kim waved her hands around as she talked. "That hippie chick was right. This is so much fun, and there's absolutely no strings. Like, no offense, Linds, but I would never date you. Or any girl." She smirked and finally looked back down at her. "I am way too attracted to guys." And at that, before Lindsay could get a word in edgewise, Kim's mouth was pressing warm, damp kisses along her neck.

Shel et out a small gasp and involuntary moan, and she could have sworn Kim nearly growled. Lindsay tightly gripped the back of Kim's shirt as she trailed kisses all along her neck and collarbone. The sensations flooded her body and mind, sending her into overdrive. Kim's hand tightened on her waist, and suddenly, she pushed Kim up and shoved her backwards so now, Lindsay was on top of her.

Kim stared at her with wide, shocked eyes for just a moment before breaking into laughter. Lindsay laughed too, but not for long. She stared down at Kim's kiss-plumped lips and dove down to catch them with her own. They continued making out and wrestling for a little while longer, but didn't go any further than that. And so far, her encounters with Kim had been her second favorite thing from this whole trip.

Now, Kim was laying across Lindsay as the van drove through the night, and they were kissing once more. But this time felt much different from every other make-out session they'd had in the van. Maybe it was because this would be their last night before the whole thing ended, and likely the last time they did any of this, but the air around them felt completely different. Charged, in a way, with tension and the unspoken reality that this might be their last chance to explore.

This time, as they lounged on the sofa wearing thin pajamas, chests pressed together, their kisses were languid and slow. Kim's lips moved against her carefully, methodically, like they had all the time in the world. She had never felt anything quite like this. There was a certain delightfully painful pressure building between her thighs, a heat that blossomed and expanded through her lower belly.

Kim's hand slid beneath the fabric of her shirt, skirting gently along the skin of her waist, and she gasped. Her other hand held Lindsay's cheek and their kisses deepened, until they were so consumed in each other they could barely breathe.

Kim brought her lips to Lindsay's jaw, pressing soft kisses there, then trailing down her neck and to her collar. Then, she was lifting Lindsay's shirt over her head and allowing her to return the favor, and they relished in the skin-to-skin contact while they resumed their kissing. Lindsay leaned up to catch Kim's mouth in a searing kiss, dragging her teeth along her lower lip then taking her own path down Kim's freckled neck.

Kim let out a low moan and leaned back, exposing her neck and collar, and Lindsay took full advantage of that.

That night, their hands and mouths explored each other to the fullest extent. Gasps and moans filled the air for what seemed like hours, and at the end of it all, they lay there together, panting and spent.

And finally, they turned to look at each other with embarrassed cheeks flushed pink, grinning. And even after they returned home, Lindsay would remember that night as her favorite night of all.

Then when they dropped Lindsay off at her parent's doorstep, and her dad came outside to greet her with a grim look, her stomach dropped. She knew, in that instant, she was about to make up for every single moment of fun.